Ireland

[[Image:LocationIslandIreland.png|frame|right|Ireland is located west of the European landmass, which is part of the continent of Europe.]] Ireland (''�ire'' in Irish language) is the third-largest island in Europe. It lies on the west side of the Irish Sea, and is part of the geographical (but not political) British Islands archipelago. It is composed of the Republic of Ireland which covers five sixths of the island (south, east, west and north-west) and Northern Ireland, currently a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the northeastern sixth of the island. The population of the island is approximately 5.7 million people, 4 million in the Republic and 1.7 million in Northern Ireland. [[Image:Ireland.A2003004.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A true colour image of Ireland, captured by a NASA satellite on January 4, 2003. Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales are visible to the east.]] ==Geography== [[Image:Ireland_physical_small.png|frame|Some physical features of Ireland are shown on this map. See also :Image:Ireland_physical_large.png with more details.]] :''Main article: Geography of Ireland'' A ring of coastal mountains surrounds low central plains. The highest peak is Carrauntuohill (Irish language: ''Corr�n Tuathail''), which is 1041 m (3414 feet). The island is bisected by the River Shannon, at 259 km (161 mi) the longest river in Ireland or Britain. The island's lush vegetation, a product of its mild climate and frequent but soft rainfall, earns it the sobriquet "Emerald Isle". Ireland is divided into four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (or Connaught), Leinster, Munster and Ulster. These were further divided into Counties of Ireland for administrative purposes. Six Ulster counties remain in the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland following Ireland's partition in 1922 (the remaining 26 forming present-day Republic of Ireland); since the United Kingdom's 1974 reshuffle these county boundaries no longer exist in Northern Ireland for administrative purposes, although Fermanagh District Council is almost identical to the county. In the Republic, the county boundaries are still adhered to for local government, albeit with Tipperary and Dublin subdivided (some cities also have their own administrative regions). For election constituencies, some counties are merged or divided, but constitutionally the boundaries have to be observed. Across Ireland, the 32 counties are still used in sports and in some other cultural areas and retain a strong sense of local identity. Ireland's least arable land lies in the southern and western counties. These areas are mostly mountainous and rocky, with beautiful green vistas.
==Politics== ''Main articles: Politics of Northern Ireland; Politics of the Republic of Ireland'' Politically, Ireland is divided into: * The Republic of Ireland, with its capital in Dublin. This state is often simply referred to internally and internationally as "Ireland" or "Éire". Technically ''Ireland'' and �ire are the official ''names'' of the state while the "Republic of Ireland" is its official ''description''. * Northern Ireland is also referred to unofficially as the 'Six Counties', the 'North of Ireland', and 'Ulster' (though the province of Ulster also includes County Donegal, County Cavan, and County Monaghan in the Republic) . Northern Ireland remains a region of the United Kingdom. Prior to the Government of Ireland Act 1920 the island had existed for centuries as one unified political entity, most recently as the Kingdom of Ireland or as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Prior to England rule in Middle Ages times a national kingdom had emerged headed by an Ard Ri or High King of Ireland. See Irish States (1171-present). In a number of areas, the island operates officially as a single entity, for example, in sport. The major religions, the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, are organised on an all-island basis. 92% of the population of the Republic of Ireland and 40% of Northern Ireland is Roman Catholic. Some trades unions are also organised on an all-Irish basis and associated with the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU) in Dublin, while others in Northern Ireland are affiliated with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom. The island also has a shared culture across the divide in many other ways. Traditional Irish music, for example, though showing some variance in all geographical areas, is, broadly speaking, the same on both sides of the border. Irish and Scotland traditional music have many similarities. The Ireland Funds, an international fundraising organisation, tries to help people on both sides find peace and reconcilliation through community development, education, arts and culture. The island is often referred to as being part of the British Isles. However, some people, especially in Ireland, take exception to this name, which seems to suggest that both islands belong to Britain. For this reason, "Britain and Ireland" is commonly used as a more neutral alternative. Another suggestion, although much less used, is the Islands of the North Atlantic (IONA). == History == ''Main article: History of Ireland'' [[Image:Carrowmore tomb, Ireland.jpg|thumb|250px|One of the stone age passage tombs at Carrowmore, County Sligo]] ===Prehistoric=== ''Main article: Early history of Ireland'' The period before the coming of Christianity in Ireland is largely prehistoric. The island, which was mostly ice-covered and joined by land to Britain and Europe during the last ice age, has been inhabited for about 9,000 years. Stone age inhabitants arrived sometime after 8000 BC, with the culture progressing from Mesolithic to high Neolithic over the course of three or four millennia. This saw the appearance of huge stone monuments, many of them astronomically aligned. The Bronze Age, which began around 2500 BC, saw the production of elaborate gold and bronze ornaments and weapons. See the Early history of Ireland for a fuller treatment of this period of Irish history. ===Iron Age=== The Iron Age in Ireland is associated with people now known as Celts. These are traditionally thought to have colonised Ireland in a series of waves between the 8th century BC and 1st century BC centuries BC, with the Gaels, the last wave of Celts, conquering the island and dividing it into five or more kingdoms. Many scholars, however, now favour a view that emphasises cultural diffusion from overseas over significant colonisation. The Romans referred to Ireland as Hibernia. Ptolemy in AD 100 records Ireland's geography and tribes. Native accounts are confined to Irish poetry, myth, and archaeology. The exact relationship between Rome and the tribes of Hibernia is unclear; the only references are a few Roman writings. ===The early Christian era and the Vikings (432 to 1014) === Tradition maintains that in AD 432, Saint Patrick arrived on the island and, in the years that followed, worked to convert the Irish to Christianity. The druid tradition collapsed in the face of the spread of the new faith. Irish scholars excelled in the study of Latin learning and Christian theology in the monasteries that flourished, preserving Latin learning during the Dark Ages. The arts of manuscript illumination, metalworking, and sculpture flourished and produced such treasures as the Book of Kells, ornate jewelry, and the many carved stone crosses that dot the island. Sites dating to this period include clochans, ringforts and promontory forts. This golden age was interrupted in the 9th century by 200 years of intermittent warfare with waves of Viking raiders (mainly Vikings from Denmark and Norway) who plundered monasteries and towns. Many settled in Ireland. In 1014 a Norse or Norwegian earl or jarl of Orkney, Sigurd the Stout, made a bid to become High King of Ireland. He was defeated and killed in the battle of Clontarf. The established high king, Brian Boru, was killed in the same battle. ===Anglo-Norman and English control (1172 to 1800)=== [[Image:Flag of provinces (Ireland).png|thumb|For millennium, Ireland has been divided into provinces, of which four remain today: Munster, Leinster, Connacht and Ulster. The coat of arms is from the Anglo-norman period.]] In 1172, King Henry II of England gained Irish lands, and from the 13th century, English law began to be introduced. English rule was largely limited to the area around Dublin known as the Pale, but this began to expand in the 16th century with the final collapse of the Gaelic social and political superstructure at the end of the 17th century, as a result of the English and Scottish Plantation of Ulster and other plantations in Laois ("King's County", modern day Laois) and Offaly ("Queen's County"). In an incident known as the Flight of the Earls, the leaders of Gaelic Ireland in Ulster fled to France and onwards to Rome in 1607. Having been defeated by Elizabeth I forces in 1603, they found life under English suzerainty intolerable. The higher echelons of the clan left ''en masse'' to take titles in Catholic Europe, thus marking the end of the Gaelic aristocracy in Ireland. ''See History of Ireland for the 17th and 18th century period to the 1801 Act of Union.'' ===Union with Britain, 1801 to 1922=== ''Main article: History of Ireland (1801-1922)'' In 1801 the unrepresentative Irish parliament was coerced and bribed to vote itself out of existence and for a union with the Kingdom of Great Britain (itself a union of England and Scotland, created almost 100 years earlier), to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1829, a radical Catholic lawyer, Daniel O'Connell, "the Great Emancipator" led a successful campaign for Catholic Emancipation. He later led an unsuccessful campaign for "Repeal (Act of Union campaign)", ie the repeal of the Act of Union. The second of Ireland's "great famines", ''An Gorta M�r'' struck the country severely in the period 1845-1849, with potato blight leading to mass starvation and emigration. (See the Irish Potato Famine (1845-1849).) The impact of emigration in Ireland was severe; the population dropped from over 8 million before the Famine to 4.4 million in 1911. The Irish language, once the spoken language of the entire island, declined in use sharply in the nineteenth century as a result of the Famine and the creation of the National School education system, as well as hostility to the language from leading Irish politicians of the time; it was largely replaced by English language. The form of English used in Ireland differs somewhat from British English and its variants. Blurring linguistic structures from older forms of English (notably Elizabethan English) and the Irish language, it is known as Hiberno-English and was in the twentieth century strongly associated with writers like J.M. Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Sean O'Casey, and had resonances in the English of Dublin-born Oscar Wilde. In the 1870s the issue of Irish self government again became a major focus of debate under Protestant landowner, Charles Stewart Parnell and the Home Rule League. British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone made two unsuccessful attempts to introduce Home Rule. Parnell's controversial leadership eventually ended when he was implicated in a divorce scandal, when it was revealed that he had been living with the wife of a fellow Irish MP, Katherine Parnell, and was the father of some of her children. The debate over home rule led to tensions between Irish nationalists and Irish unionists (those who favoured maintenance of the union). Most of the island was predominantly nationalist, Catholic and agrarian. The northeast, however, was predominantly unionist, Protestant and industrialised. Unionists feared a loss of political power and economic wealth in a predominantly nationalist, Catholic home rule state. Nationalists believed that they would remain economically and politicially second class citizens without self-government. Outside mainstream nationalism, a series of violent rebellions by Irish republicans took place in 1803 (under Robert Emmet), 1848 (under the Young Irelanders) and in the mid 1860s under the Irish Republican Brotherhood. All failed, but ''physical force nationalism'' remained an undercurrent in the nineteenth century. The late nineteenth century also witnessed major land reform, spearheaded by the Land League under Michael Davitt. From 1870 various British governments introduced a series of Land Acts that broke up large estates and gradually gave rural landholders and tenants what became known as the ''3 Fs; Fair rent, free sale, fixity of tenure." Dublin, however, remained a city marked by extremes of poverty and wealth, possessing some of the worst slums anywhere in the British Empire. It also possessed one of the world's biggest "red light districts" known as Monto (after its focal point, Mountgomery Street, on the northside of the city). Monto was to feature in many novels set in Dublin, most notably in the writings of James Joyce. ===1916 to 1922: Partial severance of Union; partial independence=== The division of the island into "Northern" and "Republic" is a relatively recent development, coming about by the Government of Ireland Act 1920 which, amid much acrimony, divided the island into what the British government termed Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. A bi-lateral Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1922 formalised independence of what was later to become the Republic of Ireland, while Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom. In September 1914, just as the First World War broke out, the UK Parliament Home Rule Act 1914 Home Rule for Ireland, but was suspended for the duration of what was expected to be a very short war. An attempt was made to gain independence for Ireland with the 1916 Easter Rising, an insurrection largely confined to Dublin. Though support for the insurgents was small, the violence used in its suppression (being considered a serious treason in time of war) led to a swing in support of the rebels. The unprecedented threat of Irishmen being conscripted to the British Army for service in France accelerated this change. In December 1918 most voters voted for Sinn F�in, the party of the rebels. Having won three-quarters of all the seats in Ireland, its MPs assembled in Dublin on 21 January 1919 to form an Irish parliament, D�il �ireann. A war of independence often called the Anglo-Irish War raged from 1919 to 1921. In mid-1921 the Irish and British governments signed a truce that halted the war. In late 1921 an Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed between representatives of both governments. This created an Irish self-governing dominion called the Irish Free State. Under the Treaty Northern Ireland could opt out of the Free State and stay with the United Kingdom. This was a foregone conclusion and Northern Ireland promptly did so. For most of the next 75 years, each territory was strongly aligned to either Roman Catholic or Protestant ideologies, although this was more marked in the six counties. ===1922 to the present (in the Free State/the Republic)=== ''Main articles: History of the Republic of Ireland; Republic of Ireland; Names of the Irish state'' After the treaty to sever the Union was ratified, the old republican movement divided into ''pro-treaty'' and ''anti-treaty'' supporters. Between 1922 and 1923 both sides fought the bloody Irish Civil War. This division among Nationalists still colours Irish politics today. The new Irish Free State (1922–1937) existed against the backdrop of the growth of dictatorships in Europe and a major world economic downturn. In contrast with many contemporary European states it remained a democracy, in which the losing faction in the Irish civil war, Eamon de Valera, was able to take power by winning the Irish general election, 1932. In contrast to many other states in the period, the Free State remained financially solvent. However, unemployment and emigration were high. Although not as blatant as in Northern Ireland (see below), for much of the first 75 years of its existence, the 'southern state' operated in practice as a 'Catholic State for a Catholic People', since Catholicism was professed actively by 95% of the population. In 1937, a new Constitution of Ireland proclaimed the state of �ire (or Ireland). The state remained neutral throughout World War II (''see Irish neutrality'') and this saved it from the horrors of the war, although tens of thousands volunteered to serve in the British forces. Ireland was also hit badly by rationing of food, and coal in particular (B�rd na M�na became a priority during this time). Though nominally neutral, recent studies have suggested a far greater level involvement by the South with the Allies than was realised, with D Day's date set on the basis of secret weather information on Atlantic storms supplied by the Republic. ''For more detail on 1939–1945, see main article The Emergency''. In 1949 the state was formally declared the Republic of Ireland and it left the British Commonwealth. In the 1960s, Ireland underwent a major economic change under reforming Taoiseach (prime minister) Sean Lemass and radical senior civil servant T.K. Whittaker, who produced a series of economic plans. Free second-level education was introduced by Brian Lenihan as Minister for Education in 1968. The Republic from the early 1960s sought admission to the European Economic Community but because of its economy's dependence on the United Kingdom's market, it could not enter until the UK entered in 1973. Economic downturn in the 1970s, augmented by a set of misjudged economic policies followed by Taoiseach Jack Lynch, caused the Irish economy to stagnate. However, economic reforms in the late 1980s and considerable investment from the European Community led to the emergence of one of the world's highest economic growth rates, with mass immigration (particularly of people from Asia and Eastern Europe) as a feature of the late 1990s. This period came to be known as the Celtic Tiger and was focused on as a model for economic development in the former Eastern Bloc states, which entered the European Union in the early 2000s. Irish society also adopted liberal social policies during this period. Divorce was legalised, homosexuality decriminalised, while a right to abortion in limited cases was granted by the Irish Supreme Court in the X Case legal judgment. Major scandals in the Roman Catholic Church coincided with a wholescale collapse in religious practice, with weekly attendance at Roman Catholic Mass (liturgy) halving in twenty years. ===1921 to 1971 in Northern Ireland: "A Protestant State and a Protestant People"=== ''Main article: Northern Ireland'' From 1921 to 1971, Northern Ireland was run by the Ulster Unionist Party Parliament of Northern Ireland, based at Stormont in East Belfast. The founding Prime Minister, James Craig, proudly declared that it would be "a Protestant State for a Protestant People" (in contrast to the "Papist" state to the south). Discrimination against the minority nationalist community, and their total exclusion from political power (gerrymandering), led to the appearance of a civil rights campaign in the late 1960s. A violent counter-reaction from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and right-wing unionists such as the Rev. Ian Paisley led to civil strife. Tensions came to a head with the events of Bloody Sunday (1972) and Bloody Friday, and the worst years (early 1970s) of what became known as The Troubles resulted. The Stormont ''majoritarian'' government was prorogued in 1971 and abolished totally in 1972. Paramilitary such as the traditional republican Provisional IRA, and the Marxist Official IRA, unionist groups like the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, and the British army and the RUC fought a bitter "war", which resulted in the deaths of thousands of men, women and children, civilians and military. Most of the violence took place in the six counties, but some also spread to England and across the border. ===1971 to 1998 in Northern Ireland: Direct Rule=== For the next 27 years, Northern Ireland was ruled from Parliament of the United Kingdom, and (officially) treated the same as the rest of the United Kingdom. ===1998 to the present: Devolution, more Direct Rule=== More recently, the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998 has brought a degree of power sharing to Northern Ireland, giving both Unionists (Ireland), who favour it remaining a part of the United Kingdom, and Nationalism, who favour it becoming part of an All-Ireland state (not necessarily the Republic of Ireland), control of limited areas of government. However, both the power-sharing Executive and the elected Assembly have been suspended as of 2005 October 2002 following a breakdown in trust between the political parties. Efforts to resolve outstanding issues, including "decommissioning" of paramilitary weapons, PSNI reform and the removal of controversial British army bases are continuing. ==Sport== ''Main article: Sport in Ireland'' Gaelic football and hurling are the most popular sports in Ireland. Along with Camogie, Ladies' Gaelic football, Gaelic_handball and Irish rounders, they make up the national sports of Ireland, collectively known as Gaelic Games. All Gaelic games are governed by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), with the exception of Ladies' Gaelic Football, which is governed by a separate organization. The GAA is organised on an all-Ireland basis with all 32 counties competing; traditionally, counties first compete within their Provinces of Ireland, in the provincial championships, and the winners then compete in the All-Ireland senior All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship or All-Ireland Senior Football Championship championships. The head-quarters of the GAA (and the main stadium) is located at the 70,000 seater Croke Park in Dublin. All major GAA games are played here, including the semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland championships. All GAA players, even at the highest level, are amateurs and receive no wages. The Irish rugby union team includes players from north and south, and the Irish Rugby Football Union governs the sport on both sides of the border. Consequently in international rugby, the Ireland team represents the whole island. The same is true of cricket. However, when Ireland was partitioned, organisation of football (soccer) in the Republic was transferred from the Irish Football Association (IFA) to the new Football Association of Ireland (FAI). The IFA remained in charge of the game in the six counties. (Consequently in International Association Football, the island has two teams: the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland.) Greyhound racing and horse racing are both popular in Ireland, greyhound stadiums are well attended and there are frequent horse race meetings. The Republic is noted for the breeding and training of race horses and is also a large exporter of racing dogs. Boxing is also an all-island sport governed by the Irish Amateur Boxing Association. ==Culture== [[Image:George bernard shaw.jpg|thumb|George Bernard Shaw, one of four Irish winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature]] ''Main article: Culture of Ireland'' ===Literature and the arts=== ''Main articles: Irish literature, Irish art'' For a comparatively small country, Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches, mainly in English. Poetry in Irish represents the oldest Vernacular literature poetry in Europe with the earliest examples dating from the 6th century. In more recent times, Ireland has produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney. Although not a Nobel Prize winner, James Joyce is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. His 1922 novel Ulysses is sometimes cited as the greatest English-language novel of the 20th century and his life is celebrated annually in Dublin as the Bloomsday celebrations. The early history of Irish visual art is generally considered to begin with early carvings found at sites such as Newgrange and is traced through Bronze age artefacts, particularly ornamental gold objects, and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period. During the course of the 19th century and 20th century centuries, a strong indigenous tradition of painting emerged, including such figures as John Butler Yeats, William Orpen, Jack Yeats and Louis le Brocquy. ===Music and dance=== ''Main article: Irish music'' The Irish tradition of folk music and dance is also widely known. In the middle years of the 20th century, as Irish society was attempting to modernise, traditional music tended to fall out of favour, especially in urban areas. During the 1960s, and inspired by the American folk music movement, there was a revival of interest in the Irish tradition. This revival was led by such groups as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers and Sweeney's Men and individuals like Sean � Riada and Danny O'Flaherty. Irish and Scotland traditional music are similar. Before long, groups and musicians including Horslips, Van Morrison and even Thin Lizzy were incorporating elements of traditional music into a rock idiom to form a unique new sound. During the 1970s and 1980s, the distinction between traditional and rock musicians became blurred, with many individuals regularly crossing over between these styles of playing as a matter of course. This trend can be seen more recently in the work of bands and individuals like U2 (band), Clannad, The Cranberries, The Corrs, Van Morrison, Sin�ad O'Connor, and The Pogues. Nevertheless, Irish music has shown an immense inflation of popularity with many attempting to return to their roots. There are also contemporary music groups that stick closer to a "traditional" sound, including Altan, Gaelic Storm, Lúnasa (band), and Solas. Others incorporate multiple cultures in a fusion of style, such as Afro Celt Sound System and Canada Loreena McKennitt. Enya is Ireland's best selling solo musician to date. Ireland has done well in the Eurovision Song Contest, being the most successful country in the competition with seven wins. This achievement evokes mixed feelings in many Irish people. ==Infrastructure== ===Transport=== ''Main article: Transport in Ireland'' ====Air==== The three most important international airports in the Republic are Dublin Airport, Cork Airport and Shannon Airport. All provide extensive services to the UK, Europe and North America. The Irish national airline Aer Lingus and low-cost operator Ryanair are based at Dublin. Shannon is an important stopover on trans-Atlantic route for refuelling operations. There are several smaller regional airports in the Republic (Galway Airport, Kerry Airport, Knock International Airport, Sligo Airport, Waterford Airport) that mostly limit their services to Ireland and the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland there are three main airports. Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove) provides routes to Ireland and Great Britain, as well as many international services to Europe and recently Belfast-New York (Newark Liberty International Airport). Belfast City Airport and City of Derry Airport mainly provide flights to Great Britain. ====Rail==== ''Main articles: History of rail transport in Ireland; Rail transport in Ireland'' The Rail transportl network in Ireland was developed by various private companies with the help of British Government funding throughout the late 19th century, reaching its greatest extent around the 1920s. The standard gauge of 1600 millimetre (5 Foot (unit of length) 3 inch) was eventually settled upon thoughout the island, although there were narrow gauge (3 ft) railways also. Ireland also has one of the largest freight railways in Europe, operated by Bord na M�na, this company has a narrow gauge railway of 1200 miles. ====Road==== ''Main article: Roads in Ireland'' The island of Ireland has an extensive road network, despite the low quality of many of these until recently. Northern Ireland has historically had better main roads, while the Republic of Ireland has an increasing motorway network, focused on Dublin. ===Energy=== For much of their existence electricity networks in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were entirely separate. Both networks were designed and constructed independently, but are now connected with three interlinks and also connected by Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) though Great Britain to mainland Europe. The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in the Republic drove a rural electrification programme in the 1940s until the 1970s. The natural gas network is also now all-island, with a connection from Northern Ireland to Scotland. Most of Ireland's gas comes from the Kinsale field. The Corrib field has yet to come online, and is facing fierce opposition over the controversial decision to refine the gas onshore. Ireland, north and south has faced difficulties in providing continuous power at peak load. Especially during the winter, power outages have been forced due to inadequate power generation. The situation in Northern Ireland is complicated by the issue of private companies not supplying NIE with enough power, while in the Republic, the government has failed to modernise power plants owned by ESB. In the latter case, availability of power plants has averaged 66% recently, one of the worst such figures in Western Europe. There have been recent efforts in Ireland to use renewable energy such as wind energy with large wind farms being constructed in coastal counties such as County Mayo and County Antrim. Recently what will be the world's largest offshore wind farm is being developed at Arklow Bank off the coast of Wicklow. It is estimated to generate 10% of Irelands energy needs when it is complete. These constructions have in some cases been delayed by opposition from locals, most recently on Achill Island, some of whom consider the wind turbines to be unsightly. Another issue in the Republic of Ireland is the failure of the aging network to cope with the varying availability of power from such installations. Turlough Hill is the only energy storage mechanism in Ireland. ==Irish eCards== [http://www.irlfunds.org/ecard/index.asp eCards] ==See also== * List of Ireland-related topics * Republic of Ireland * Northern Ireland * The Ireland Funds ==External links== * [http://www.ireland-now.com/island.html General Information about the Island of Ireland] * [http://www.irlfunds.org The Ireland Funds: The Global Network for Ireland] * [http://www.irelandnet.com IrelandNet.com] * [http://www.irishtourist.com Ireland Tourist Information] * [http://www.irelandstory.com/ The Ireland Story] * [http://www.ureland.com/ Under Ireland: Directory] * [http://www.whiteimage.com Paintings of Ireland by Irish artists] * [http://www.irelandscape.com/ Irelandscape: Photographs of Ireland] * [http://www.ireland-map.co.uk/ Map of Ireland] * [http://www.heraldry.ws Irish Coats of Arms & Crests] * [http://www.search-ireland.net/ Irish Search Engine] Islands in the British Isles Ireland ga:�ire kw:Ynys Iwerdhon la:Hibernia nds:Irland se:Irl�nda simple:Ireland

Ireland

This category covers the island of Ireland, both now and before partition in 1920/1922. The subcategories :Category:Northern Ireland and :Category:Republic of Ireland deal with topics specific to the two jurisdictions in Ireland. Western Europe British Isles kw:Category:Iwerdhon

Ireland

This is perhaps ok as a "placeholder" if what is intended is a temporary place for articles. But there are already two categories: "Island of Ireland" and "Republic of Ireland". So a category of "Ireland" is redundant and ambiguous. User:Ikari 23:31, 8 Jun 2004 (UTC) --- :"Do you mean the Island of Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?" Huh? I-- I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh! -- User:Itai 16:32, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC) == Forced partition of articles == ''Articles and subcategories related to Ireland should not be assigned to this category.'' Says who? Who decided this? For most purposes, using the suitably ambiguous "Ireland" is much less likely to give offence than FORCING the slotting into categories "Republic of Ireland", "Northern Ireland" or "Island of Ireland". GAH! Furthermore, it's even WORSE to insist on only ONE of those categories being used! Instead, people SHOULD use the category "Ireland" where more than one of the above is involved - which is a LOT of situations. User:Zoney 10:31, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC) ---- :''For most purposes, using the suitably ambiguous "Ireland" is much less likely to give offence than FORCING the slotting into categories "Republic of Ireland", "Northern Ireland" or "Island of Ireland". "Republic of Ireland" and "Northern Ireland" are very useful categories to have. Articles only go into the most precise category to which they belong so if there are going to be categories called "Republic of Ireland" and "Northern Ireland" then it is in the nature of things that people have to put articles that apply to only one jurisdiction into that category and not into the category we use for the whole island. Putting an article ''directly'' into the category "Northern Ireland" and not directly into "Ireland" as well is not a political statement. Any article in the category "Northern Ireland" is ''indirectly'' in the category "Island of Ireland" because "Northern Ireland" is a subcategory of "Island of Ireland". Places are simply categorised by the name of the smallest ''useful'' geographical unit to which they apply. So, similarly, putting Glasgow directly in "Scotland" and only indirectly in "United Kingdom" is not an endorsment of Scottish separatism. :''GAH! Furthermore, it's even WORSE to insist on only ONE of those categories being used! Instead, people SHOULD use the category "Ireland" where more than one of the above is involved - which is a LOT of situations. People definitely should put an article into a category designating the ''whole of'' Ireland when it applies to both parts of Ireland. But if there is to be a separate category for the Republic (which is highly useful) then a category called "Ireland" can only mean the island. If it is the island that is refered to then there is no purpose in using a deliberately ambiguous title. In any case either "Ireland" or "Island of Ireland" has to go. "Island of Ireland" was created a while ago and now contains an awful lot of articles and subcategories so if you think that this category should be abolished and replaced by the current "Ireland" category i think that is a matter to be discussed on the "Island of Ireland" categorytalk page. In the meantime it's not a good idea to add more articles to the parallel "Ireland" category because the mess of having two parallel categories containing lots of articles will have to be cleaned up eventually. User:Ikari 04:00, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC) : There is a debate on WP:CFD#Irish reorganization at the moment about the reorganisation of the category hierarchy regarding Ireland. Personally, I think that everything in :Category:Island of Ireland should be moved to :Category:Ireland, but Wikipedia:consensus needs to be reached in some form. — User:OwenBlacker 15:38, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC) ==Moved from WP:CFD== ===Irish reorganization=== I'd like to ask that all of the following category names be disambiguated to include one of the following words: "Republic" "Northern" "island" "language" "ethnicity". * :Category:Airlines_of_Ireland * :Category:Airports_of_Ireland * :Category:Banks_of_Ireland * :Category:Companies_of_Ireland * :Category:Constitution_of_Ireland * :Category:Counties_of_Ireland * :Category:Education_in_Ireland * :Category:Elections_in_Ireland * :Category:History_of_Ireland * :Category:History_of_Ireland_1801-1922 * :Category:Irish_actors_and_actresses * :Category:Irish_Air_Corps * :Category:Irish_archaeology * :Category:Irish_artists * :Category:Irish_athletes * :Category:Irish_comedians * :Category:Irish_cuisine * :Category:Irish_culture * :Category:Irish_Defence_Forces * :Category:Irish_dramatists * :Category:Irish_football * :Category:Irish_football_clubs * :Category:Irish_footballers * :Category:Irish_goddesses * :Category:Irish_gods * :Category:Irish_Guards * :Category:Irish_heads_of_government * :Category:Irish_institutions * :Category:Irish_journalists * :Category:Irish_literature * :Category:Irish_music * :Category:Irish_musical_groups * :Category:Irish_musicians * :Category:Irish_mythology * :Category:Irish_novelists * :Category:Irish_painters * :Category:Irish_people * :Category:Irish_philosophers * :Category:Irish_poets * :Category:Irish_political_parties * :Category:Irish_politicians * :Category:Irish_representative_peers * :Category:Irish_rugby_union_footballers * :Category:Irish_short_story_writers * :Category:Irish_songwriters * :Category:Irish_sport * :Category:Irish_sportspeople * :Category:Irish_swimmers * :Category:Irish_texts * :Category:Irish_Victoria_Cross_recipients * :Category:Irish_wars * :Category:Irish_World_War_I_people * :Category:Irish_World_War_I_Victoria_Cross_recipients * :Category:Irish_writers * :Category:Lords_Lieutenant_of_Ireland * :Category:Members_of_the_European_Parliament_from_Ireland * :Category:Presidents_of_Ireland * :Category:Religion_in_Ireland * :Category:Sport_in_Ireland * :Category:Towns_of_Ireland * :Category:Transportation_in_Ireland * :Category:Transport_in_Ireland * :Category:Universities_and_colleges_in_Ireland There are also currently 3 subcategories and 18 articles in :Category:Ireland, which need to be moved to a less ambiguous place, as per the category's header. (Also, something should be done with the childless orphans, :Category:Transport_in_Ireland and :Category:People_from_Northern_Ireland. -- User:Beland 05:47, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)) (Oh, and :Category:Sport_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland. -- User:Beland 05:55, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)) In the course of reorganization... Top-level island-wide subjects (for example, :Category:Irish_mythology) should be cross-referenced from the top-level of the Republic and the North. And so on for second-level subjects, etc., as needed. Some subjects are clearly separable; I'm not sure whether they should be cross-referenced from :Category:Island of Ireland. For example, right now, we have :Category:Towns_of_Ireland, which contains only :Category:Towns_in_Northern_Ireland and :Category:Towns_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland. Clearly, :Category:Towns_of_Ireland should be deleted, but should the two subcategories then be included directly in :Category:Island of Ireland? Some categories are mixed. For example, in sports, some teams represent the island (like the Irish rugby union), and others represent one part or the other. Should there be a combined sports category, listing both Republic and Northern articles and subcategories? The top-level structure looks like this as of 8 Sep: ::Category:Northern_Ireland :: :Category:Airports_of_Northern_Ireland :: :Category:Counties_in_Northern_Ireland :: :Category:History_of_Northern_Ireland :: :Category:Northern_Ireland_people :: :Category:Northern_Ireland_political_parties :: :Category:Towns_in_Northern_Ireland ::Category:Ireland :: :Category:Companies_of_Ireland :: :Category:Elections_in_Ireland :: :Category:Irish_cuisine ::Category:Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:Counties_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:History_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:Irish_Defence_Forces :: :Category:Military_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:Politics_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:Towns_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland ::Category:Island_of_Ireland :: :Category:Counties_of_Ireland :: :Category:History_of_Ireland :: :Category:Irish_culture :: :Category:Irish_institutions :: :Category:Irish_mythology :: :Category:Irish_people :: :Category:Irish_political_parties :: :Category:Limerick_topics :: :Category:Northern_Ireland :: :Category:Provinces_of_Ireland :: :Category:Religion_in_Ireland :: :Category:Republic_of_Ireland :: :Category:Sport_in_Ireland :: :Category:Sport_in_Northern_Ireland :: :Category:Towns_of_Ireland :: :Category:Transportation_in_Ireland :: :Category:Ulster The only extant replacement for the childless orphan :Category:Northern_Irish_culture would be :Category:Irish_culture. I'm not sure whether or not it should be deleted. -- User:Beland 05:47, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC) There is a reasonable case for merging Sport_in_Ireland and Sport_in_Northern_Ireland as most sports I can think of i.e. Hurling, Gaelic football, rugby etc are all-Ireland and would need to be put into both categories. The main sport that isn't all-Ireland is soccer which could easily be solved by subcategories Republic_of_Ireland_soccer and Northern_Ireland_soccer.User:GordyB 20:53, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC) : No, I disagree quite strongly. : I don't see why all the categories need to be disambiguated. Certainly categories like :Category:History of Ireland 1801-1922 shouldn't be altered — the articles are about the history of the whole island, before there was the division between the six counties in the North and the 26 in the Republic. I think the current situation where everything is in a category with a somewhat awkward name is definitely suboptimal. Why can we not have a category of ''Ireland'', with subcategories of ''Northern Ireland'' and ''Republic of Ireland''; many of the articles in the category tree are about the whole island, and can go in subcats of ''Ireland'' and those which are only about one of the two nations on the island can go into the appropriate subcat. Most English speakers around the world couldn't give a fig for the awkward lexical gymnastics we go through so as not to offend small minorities of the people who care about the specifics. : Effectively, I'm suggesting that the hierarchy above (in preformatted text) be left as-is, but with :Category:Island of Ireland deleted and its contents moved to :Category:Ireland. I don't think :Category:Ireland is ambiguous, if it then contains subcats of :Category:Northern Ireland and :Category:Republic of Ireland. — User:OwenBlacker 15:21, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC) ::I completely agree. A precedent may be found at :Category:Korea. -User:Gtrmp 00:09, Sep 15, 2004 (UTC) :: Sounds like good plan in the spiriti of cats. --User:JerzyUser talk:Jerzy 03:31, 2004 Sep 15 (UTC) I'm not really offended by use of the short phrase "Ireland" to denote the whole of the island, but when I started to browse the category scheme, I was pretty confused about which subcategories and articles applied to which entities. I started to notice there was a problem when it became clear that at least one person assumed "Sport in Ireland" means "Sport in the Republic of Ireland". Then I noticed the fact that "Republic of Ireland" seems to be poorly populated compared to "Ireland", and I began to suspect that this was a general phenomenon. I'll agree that :Category:History of Ireland 1801-1922 is a good candidate for being an exception, even though most Americans, at least, won't know that this was a period of Irish unification unless they visit the category and read the header. The main benefit of including the word "island" in all general-Ireland categories is that it will become immediately obvious when people classify articles in the wrong place because they didn't bother to see if the category existed or was the right one. With the "island" proposal, these would quickly show up in :Category:Orphaned categories from an automated scan. --User:Beland 05:47, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC) Just add a preamble to each category stating that it is an all-Ireland category or one for purely R of I or NI articles. I created a British Sport category for articles that could not be put in English sport, Scottish sport etc. and added the preamble with links to the other categories.User:GordyB 16:59, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC) In the cases of :Category:Constitution_of_Ireland and :Category:Presidents_of_Ireland using the word "republic" would not be correct in renaming of these. The Constitution of Ireland and President of Ireland legally exist irrespctive of ideas of assigning Republic/Northern Ireland identifiers to disambig. User:Djegan 22:03, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I strongly oppose deleting or renaming 'Irish' categories. :Does anyone seriously think that a category such as :Category:Religion_in_Ireland isn't useful or historically valid? :Categories relating to Irish culture, geography etc should certainly ''not'' be reorganised as NI/RoI categories. ''Island_of_Ireland'' suggests a geographical bent to related categories which would clearly be inappropriate. The very existence of RoI categories should be enough to make it obvious what the 'Irish' categories refer to. If there is a problem here, perhaps it's insufficient use of RoI categories in the circumstances where that is appropriate. :In my view, only matters which relate ''primarily'' to NI or RoI ''since'' 1921 should be divided exclusively into NI and RoI categories. For example, most of the history of any given Irish town relates to the period before partition. :Another example: Irish writers since 1921 may usefully be categorised as RoI or Northern Ireland writers but they're very clearly part of a literary culture which predates partition and their categorisation as 'Irish writers' is quite arguably more important.User:Palmiro 15:23, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC) I agree completely with User:Palmiro. For instance, the 'Irish poets' cat lists poets from all over the island of Ireland writing in English, Irish, or (not infrequently) both. They're Irish poets. If you studed Irish poetry at university, you might encounter any or all of them. Please leave these things as they are unless there is some mutually exclusive element. But be wary of apparent exclusivities. You could not write the history of one of the entities from, say, 1922 until today without heavy inclusion of the other! User:Filiocht 08:17, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC) :I strongly disagree with partitioning the Irish categories into Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, except where appropriate. It is much better for any non-political topics to be ambiguously "Irish". This avoids politicisation. For a start, concerning famous people who have to be put into categories, for some people it is entirely inappropriate to force them into some kind of "Republican"/"Northerner" categorisation. Ireland is also a much shorter and easier term to apply. It's also correct whether RoI or NI is the place of origin. User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 12:43, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC) Well, it seems people have rather complex opinions on this topic. Let me ask some more specific questions so we can try to come to some agreement.... -- User:Beland 06:24, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC) ====Strongly separated categories==== 1.) Which things ''should'' be split up into Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, with no overlap? My best guesses based on the discussion so far and current practice: * Airports * Counties * Cities * Towns * Militaries Is anything missing from this list? Anything that's here that shouldn't be? What about politicians, political parties, elections, companies, airlines, banks, education systems, etc.? Things that are totally or partly mixed we can deal with in a subsequent discussion - to start with, I'm just asking which things are ''completely'' separate? -- User:Beland 06:24, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC) *There are not so many airports (certainly in NI), it makes sense to keep them together, without unnecessary subdivision. *There are not so many cities, it makes sense to keep them in cities in Ireland. *For the towns, any subdivision is good, and as such, having RoI/NI split is good, although we could/should go further and have :Category:Towns in Limerick, :Category:Towns in Armagh, :Category:Towns in Westmeath, i.e. split by county. This would make correlating the lists of towns for the County pages (see County Cork) much easier. This method of division makes it more geographical and less political. *Counties should not be split. There's 32 traditional counties, of the whole island. Northern Ireland has its own "administrative" county/borough divisions, there's pages for these, e.g. Down (district) and they should be in a NI category. Similarly if we ever have pages for the RoI county-level authorities (there's not 26, there's more, because Tipperary is split in 2, and Dublin into 4, with city councils in Limk, Cork, etc.) they go into an RoI category. (We do have North Tipperary and South Tipperary, causing problems as they don't belong with the traditional counties, and duplicate the main county info. So I think rebranding to reflect the local authorities and having a category for those is in order. In summary I propose: **:Category:Counties of Ireland **:Category:Local authorities of Northern Ireland **:Category:Local authorities of the Republic of Ireland *Military organisation articles should be divided, though paramilitaries should perhaps not be. *Essentially, the other items you suggested, the best solution is to handle them as they arise. If it ends up not well organised, bring it up on talk pages and ask for reorganisation. It's not necessarily possible to discern in advance (in some cases before the articles are there) what categories will be needed. We will pay attention to categories on the Wikipedia:Irish wikipedians' notice board though, and consider it as something to have an eye kept on, and something to try to keep organised. User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 10:22, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC) **Agree completely. User:Filiocht 10:30, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC) : I also agree with Zoney's suggestions. Political institutions etc in general should probably also be separate, insofar as there are relevant categories (local authorities, political parties, politicians). The small number of all-Ireland parties can happily sit in the :Category:Irish_political_parties and perhaps the Republic-only parties should be cleared out of it (PDs and Clann na Poblachta are currently in there - did the Clann ever organise in the North?) : For paramilitaries it's a bit more complicated as the loyalist ones have only been organised in the North (with the exception of the Ulster Volunteers in the remaining three Ulster counties pre-1921) While we're on the topic, perhaps it would be an idea to rename :Category:Terrorist_organizations_in_Northern_Ireland as :Category:Paramilitary_organizations_in_Northern_Ireland? Given that this is the word most commonly used in Ireland for these organisations and given all the POV-type problems with the term ''terrorist'' this might be appropriate. The main problem is that there is a broader :Category:Terrorist_organizations which the current one fits into more handily.User:Palmiro 19:27, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC) 2.) How should ''completely separate'' items be handled? * A. Include "Foo of Northern Ireland" and "Foo of the Republic of Ireland" each in their own country and the meta-category ("Ireland" or "Island of Ireland" or whatever we decide to call it.) * B. Include a "see also Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland" in the meta-category. * C. Include a "Foo of Northern Ireland" and "Foo of the Republic of Ireland" in a meta sub-category, "Foo in Ireland" or "Foo on the Island of Ireland" or whatever we decide to call it. I recommend A, and I dislike C. Please feel free to make additional suggestions. -- User:Beland ===Redundant Irish sportspeople=== * :Category:Irish_sport -> simply redundant with :Category:Sport in Ireland * :Category:Northern_Irish_sport -> simply redundant with :Category:Sport in Northern Ireland * :Category:Northern_Irish_football -> simply redundant with :Category:Northern_Ireland_footballers * :Category:Northern_Irish_footballers -> simply redundant with :Category:Northern_Ireland_footballers -- User:Beland 03:36, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC) : No as to the third pair: :: :Category:Northern_Ireland_footballers : should be a ''sub-category'' of :: :Category:Northern_Irish_football : and (by some collection of intemediate categories) also a descendant of :: :Category:People : But :Category:Northern_Irish_football : cannot be a descendant of :: :Category:People : since some of its descendants will be team histories, tournament articles, articles on rules and strategy, etc., rather than exclusively bio articles. :--User:JerzyUser talk:Jerzy 05:25, 2004 Sep 15 (UTC) I'd rather have Irish sport and Northern Irish sport than Sport in Ireland and Sport in Northern Ireland. At least they start with the name of the country, at the moment in the list of sport by countries every other countries' sport section is English sport, Scottish sport etc. to find the Irish entries you need to look under 'S'User:GordyB 22:10, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC) :You need to have :Category:Footballers from Northern Ireland and :Category:Football in Northern Ireland. "Northern Irish" is a modern "fudge", not accepted by many people in the region. Ultimately, people from the area are more likely to call themselves Irish, British, both or simply say they are "from Northern Ireland". It's a sticky issue - certainly the crude use of "Northern Irish" is to be avoided. User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 10:23, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC) ::Note that in the specific case of soccer, we have the Football Association of Ireland and the Irish Football Assocation governing the sport south and north respectively. Northern Irish is not widely used here as an adjective, partly because it is ambiguous (Donegal is 'Northern Irish' but not in Northern Ireland, for instance). :Category:Footballers from Northern Ireland and :Category:Football in Northern Ireland follow the most common usage of us natives and are more valid than the alternatives. User:Filiocht 10:47, Dec 1, 2004 (UTC)

Ireland

Discussion prior to Ireland becoming WP:ICOTW moved to Talk:Ireland/archive1 == Archived talk == I've moved the old talk page to Talk:Ireland/archive1 in anticipation of using the talk page during collaboration week. If I shouldn't have done that, commence yelling at me now.User:Rparle—User:Rparle User_talk:rparle 17:10, Oct 10, 2004 (UTC) ==list of topics== * A recent list of topics has appeared after the Literature and the arts section (most likely with good intentions) - I think this should be removed or moved to other relevant articles (i.e. those in the form ''Main article: XXX of Ireland'' linked under the headings) - the List of Ireland-related topics is a more appropriate place for these links - otherwise it is a matter of time before the article and list begin to compete and everything irish gets bunged into the bottom of the article - i rememeber before the list of ireland-related topics was created (i created it) and every article that had the name "ireland" in it had a haphazard list of duplicated items - the ireland articles should not return to this and should just be paragraphs, pictures and links and no lists of topics User:Djegan 19:31, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC) **Sorry, removed it. What should we do with the footnote and some photos sections? User:Filiocht 07:57, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC) ***I'd favour removing the footnote and the photos section. Some or all of those photos should still be used in the article at relevant places, but not in a dedicated photo section.User:Rparle—User:Rparle User_talk:rparle 11:07, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC) ****I agree, and am about to remove the footnote, the photos can wait until there is more article to use them on, I think. User:Filiocht 11:12, Oct 14, 2004 (UTC) ==Put back the beautiful satellite photo!== That satellite picture is beautiful, and perfect for this article. The new map with physicial features and text is not very attractive. I'm not saying it should be deleted, but the first picture at the top of Ireland should be the satellite photo. User:Evertype 15:59, 2004 Oct 19 (UTC) :It's difficult fitting it all in! I hope the current arrangement is satisfactory though! User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 17:31, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC) It was all much better before that labelled map got put in. I'd revert to that; the labelled map can go on the Geography page. User:Evertype 22:27, 2004 Oct 19 (UTC) :Well, I think it's all OK for now. The current labelled map is actually a replacement for the full scale labelled map that was originally inserted. User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 22:49, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC) I think it rather untidy. I remember previous versions being lovely. User:Evertype 23:29, 2004 Oct 19 (UTC) ==Ulster Scots== With all due respect, do we really need that ''Airlann''? There are more Chinese speakers in Ulster than Scots or Irish speakers. User:Evertype 23:31, 2004 Oct 19 (UTC) :Agreed, only terms with an official recognised status should be used - an article is not the place for every translation of a term- in such cases link to (or start) a wikipedia project in that language for the article. User:Djegan 09:41, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC) ::Ulster Scots does indeed have an "official recognised status". I see nothing wrong with having two translations listed, especially since both Irish and Ulster Scots are recognised under the Belfast Agreement. This article is about the whole island, remember?--User:Kwekubo 23:45, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC) :::My opinion of Ulster-scots, is, well, low. But regardless I think having it there is a bit pointless - its not a language spoken by even a measurable amount of people in the country. And under the GFA its only Partially recognised and not Fully recognised anyway User:Kiand 23:02, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC) :::Which of the two translations are ''official'', this is what is important? The words "Eire" and "Erin" mean the same thing - "Ireland" but one is official whilst the other is not and this term has a sense of nostalgia about it and would be inappropriate for any professional article - lets not include a term just for the sake of completeness. Similarily in the Northern Ireland article which translation is official, if any? User:Djegan 23:13, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC) ''Airlann'' is made up nonsense. Its a phonetically dubious spelling of ''Ireland''. Any Ulster Scots speaker would pronounce ''Ireland'' as they do in their accent. Reduction of ''nd'' to ''n'' is wide-spread in Ulster English, the quality of the initial diphthong no doubt differs from area to area. None of this can linguistically justify the spelling ''Airlann'' - except in a rather sad attempt to imply Ulster Scots language differs from English more than it really does. No Ulster English speakers feel the need to write ''Eyerlann''. Gregg gave the phonetic transcription ['@irl@n] (Sampa) for Ulster Scots speakers in Antrim. Looks very much like the local accent for ''Ireland''. This article does not deal with the Irish state or Northern Ireland, but with the whole island of Ireland. I personally find the status of Ulster Scots dubious, but following an NPOV it must be said that the Belfast Agreement is the only really relevant piece of legislation with regard to the officiality of Ulster Scots and Irish on an all-island basis. That Agreement gave rise directly to the rendering 'Airlann', which is used in official contexts; therefore, it may be taken as an official name for this purpose. --User:Kwekubo 22:52, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC) :: Does the agreement really give any officialness on either language, i have read it but have yet to find the form of words that gives effect? With the greatest of respect it is very easy for agreements to vaguely word to "respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity...all of which are part of the cultural wealth" but this, in itself, does not not place any official status on either language. Theirfore i must conclude that their has not been as of yet evidence of officiality in any part of Britain or Ireland. User:Djegan 23:09, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC) Hoots Mon ==Great Britain v. Britain== ''Great Britain'' is the full correct name of the island. In this context ''Britain'' sounds unencyclopediac. In case anyone is not aware the "Great" part is there for complicated historical reasons and is not a claim that it is a "great" or nice place to live. User:213.202.166.65 23:07, 21 Oct 2004 (UTC) *I agree. Great Britain is not imperialistic, but comes from the fact that the whole Hiberno-Britannic archipelago was originally called ''Britannia'' by the Romans, and Great Britain was the largest out of the islands. See Great Britain. --User:Kwekubo 23:45, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC) == Irish == I removed the paragraph "as Gaeilge", as this is the English Wikipedia, so anything beyond a phrase or word or two of another language is too much. There is actually an [http://ga.wikipedia.org/ Irish-language Wikipedia]. If someone wants to merge what they can from the text below into ga:�ire they can. :''Ainmn�ter �ire uaireanta "Oile�n an Smaragaid". Ta Inis F�la (no �ireann) suite siar o M�r- roinn na hEorpa, agus in aice leis an Breatain M�r. Is "Inis F�la", (�ireann as gaeilge, Airlann as Scots na hUladh) an tr�u oile�n is m�r sa hEorpa. Ta s� ar an taobh thiar den farraige gaelach c�ngarach leis an Bhreatain Mor. Ta se comhdeanta as Poblacht na h�irinn sa deisceart is 'an Tuaisceart', ceantar den R�oga Aontaithe. Is daonra na hOile�in 5.6 milli�in daoine. Sh�raigh Daonra na Poblachta 4 milli�in le d�anai don cead uair o 1871, mar gheall ar inimirce agus r�ta n�s airde bhreithe.'' User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 14:50, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC) == History == May I suggest that the majority of the history section be moved to History of Ireland? The version on this page should only be an outline, with the in-depth information at the main article. --User:Kwekubo 01:45, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC) :That is supposed to *be* a summary. It's not very "efficient" though, and *perhaps* too long (bear in mind the amount it has to at least mention). But I agree it needs a complete rework - it is too in-depth in places, but also uneven (some periods perhaps need couple more sentences). User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 19:23, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC) Yes, this section is far to long. Look at the brief history sections of most country articles for comparison. There seems to be new information that could be usefully merged with History of Ireland. That article still has big gaps. User:Iota 18:14, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC) The history section really is a mess. For the 20th century 1922 comes before 1916! The sections need to be short enough to be easily readable but accurate enough so that the reader, if they never read another article on Ireland, would have some idea about what are the key bits. The current versions are next to useless. I've tackled the 19th century one, which was appalling. It has a big (dubious propaganda) chunk about the famine, and nothing else. I wrote a longer section, then edited it down so that it mentions in a line or two the key bits * Act of Union * Catholic Emancipation, Repeal and O'Connell * The Famine * Parnell and Home Rule * nationalists and unionists * Physical force rebellions * land reform * poverty in Dublin You simply cannot mention the 19th century without mentioning the two biggest politicians (O'Connell & Parnell), the big issues (Union, Emancipation, repeal, home rule, land reform), the big event (the Famine). etc.Taken together they should give a fair overall picture of the key bits of the century. If you don't have them you don't have anything worth including at all. They make up a three minute guide to the 19th century. The twentieth century needs to mention in a line or two * failure of home rule * 1916 Rising * First D�il and War of Independence * Partition * The Treaty & The Free State * de Valera & the Emergency * declaration of the Republic * 1960s reforms under Lemass, Whittaker * The troubles * Belfast Agreement * Celtic Tiger. Again together they give a short guide to 20th century Ireland. If they aren't mentioned, there is no point having a section on the period at all. ''Fear�IREANN''">User:Jtdirl 23:45, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC) == Definition of Ulster == Although it is true to say that Ulster's borders have varied over time, the modern day situation (one that has remained so for some time before partition) is that Ulster comprises nine counties, Northern Ireland plus Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan. This is not only still the case today, but has a long tradition also. The term "Ulster" for Northern Ireland is thus not accurate at all. It remains a source of great mirth for many in the Republic when one hears Northern politicians speaking of "Ulster says No" etc.! User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 11:14, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC) Hi Zoney, I will agree with you that Ulster is the name of an ancient area of Ireland defined by the Anglo-Normans in its 9-county form. I will also agree that it may be used in certain modern day contexts to mean 9 counties (read on). However, if you were to use the word �Ulster� in a sentence when talking to someone in Northern Ireland today, I very much doubt that they would think that you were talking about 9 counties, unless you were using it in a certain context (see below). I also doubt that using Ulster to mean six counties is solely a unionist terminology, as claimed in certain edits. The word �Ulster� is almost always used to refer to Northern Ireland in many sections of the local and international media, and not 9 counties. Therefore I think that in modern usage, Ulster to mean 6 counties is actually a much more accurate and relevant definition. It is not wrong, neither is the 9 county Ulster definition, depending upon the context of use. The 9 county Ulster has, as added by another contributor, no modern political or administrative significance. The only context in which I can see it being frequently used in Northern Ireland is in relation to the GAA (considered by some as a sectarian organisation). About 5 years ago I would have also said that 9 county Ulster was also significant for the Ulster rugby team; however, the Ulster rugby team is now a club and the 9 county boundary is no longer relevant. The term Ulster is not only used by Ian Paisley in Northern Ireland. Examples: Ulsterbus, Radio Ulster, Ulster Televison (though this is now cross-border), Ulster Tatler, Ulster Bank, Ulster Unionist Party, Ulster Orchestra, University of Ulster, Ulster Medical Society, Enterprise Ulster, Ulster Cancer Foundation, Ulster Wildlife Trust, Ulster Hospital. I could go on� You also state that �the modern day situation (one that has remained so for some time before partition)�. How is the time before partition modern? The border in Ireland has existed for over 80 years � it�s one of the longest standing borders in Europe! (cf other countries after WWII, breakdown of Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia etc.) I also assumed that people in the Republic associated the term more often with 9 counties. However, a recent experience of mine showed the opposite. I was talking to some girls from the Republic who were in Belfast. I asked them where they were from and they replied �Cavan�. I then remarked in a friendly fashion �It�s good to meet some fellow people from Ulster� (referring to the 9-county Ulster of course). I then got a very dirty look from one who replied �We�re not from Ulster; we�re from the Republic of Ireland�. Alexmc 23 Mar 2005 I agree with Zoney. Ulster, objectively, is simply a geographic unit of 9 counties and nothing else. Both communities in Northern Ireland use language to 'claim' words and define them to promote their version of history, just as the gay community has claimed and attempted to redefine the word 'queer' with a less offensive, less provocative and less homophobic meaning. Nationalists use the literally accurate 'North of Ireland' as a name of the Northern state or than a description of the geographic location of Northern Ireland, because 'North ''of'' Ireland' links the state to the south and so implicitly denies that state's link to Britain. They also use '6 counties' again to link it to the 32 counties for exactly the same reason. Unionists talk about 'the mainland' (as does Albert Reynolds in his linguistically challenged speaking sometimes) to symbolically link Northern Ireland with the UK. Except of course that it is geographic bunkum. Northern Ireland is a co-equal part of the UK so neither GB nor NI can claim to be the other's mainland, while NI most definitely is not part of GB (Great Britain was formed in 1707 with the merger of Scotland with the already singularly governed England and Wales), so GB cannot be its mainland. However words like 'queer', 'north of Ireland', 'Six counties' or even 'mainland' can in some way be redefined because they are either literally true (n of i or 6 c) or are have no other unambiguous meaning. They are simply laying claim to a word to claim it and have as much right to use it as anyone else. 'Ulster' however is fundamentally different. It has a meaning going back millennia. It exists in ancient maps from the middle ages, in legal documents, in Acts of the old Irish, English, Great British and United Kingdom parliaments. From documents in parchment in the Victoria Tower in Westminster to ancient maps and in hundreds of other sources, it meant the northern province of the island of Ireland. Historically its boundaries may have shifted slightly, but nowhere did it ever refer to the unit that is now Northern Ireland. What happened there was simple. Unionists originally never wanted a separate Northern state (Carson cried when he heard of the plan!). It was literally a phoney creation manufactured temporarily to separate predominantly nationalist and predominantly unionist parts of the island, for fear that if they weren't separated they would fight a civil war. No-one in the British government expected the state to be anything but a temporary solution to keep the two sides apart - they hoped the Council of Ireland would be an embryonic all-Ireland parliament, hence the Lord Lieutenant in the Government of Ireland Act being chief executive in both Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. But like all artificial states created it developed its own momentum and self-identity and today it is as valid as any other state on the planet. And like new states with no historic existence, its governing elite sought to create some supposed historic and cultural ancestry for itself. "Ulster" was a natural name to claim, given that it covers most of the ancient province. The only problem was that "Ulster" already had a clearly defined widely accepted meaning. Cultural icons associated with the state, as part of this process, also adopted the name. Some of them were seen at the start as supportive of unionism. UTV in the 1970s was seen within the broadcasting as more unionist than BBC Northern Ireland (a broadcasting version of the Belfast Newsletter). Others did so for practical reasons - Northern Ireland would have been alkward to say in their title (try saying New University of Northern Ireland rather than New University of Ulster - its original title, though the 'new' has been dropped). Ulster Orchestra again was easier on the tongue than Northern Ireland Orchestra. Many companies had had senior executives with senior links to the UUP, certainly at the time when power was in government, and the UUP was in power. The ''Ulster'' in the Ulster Unionist Party does ''not'' refer to the 6 counties, but the full 9 county province; it had branches and members in Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan when it started. But with the appearance of Northern Ireland it focused on the new state, with southern unionists and non-Northern Ireland Ulster unionists drifting into Cumann na nGaedhael, the National Centre Party or remaining associated with the Irish Unionist Party. Again to link itself to history, Northern Ireland began to use the word 'province', to create the impression that 'Ulster = province = Northern Ireland'. It is a clever word game, but still runs into the same problem. The province of Ulster, as defined by a millennia of history, in thousands of legal documents, history books and as understood worldwide, is a 9 county geographic and cultural unit. As evidence of that one just has to look at what the British Royal Family indicated when a junior member was created 'Earl of Ulster'. It said explicitly that the word 'Ulster' should not be taken as referring to Northern Ireland but to the ancient province of Ulster, just as the now defunct royal title of Duke of Connaught referred to the ancient province of Connaught (Connacht) and nothing less. Wikipedia cannot allow subjective propagandistic terms from either community to be used to push their claims or agendas on the Northern issue. We cannot use 'Six Counties', 'Occupied Six Counties', 'North of Ireland', 'Ulster', 'the Province' or any other name that implies accepting the POV of ''either'' community. Objectively, Ulster is an NPOV geographic nine county unit, not a POV six county state. That state has one official name and only one, ''Northern Ireland'', and that is all we can use with breaching the rules on NPOV. ''Fear�IREANN''">User:Jtdirl 01:10, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC) :Thanks for this clear, comprehensive and, I think, irrefutable exposition. Can we now agree that the name for the part of the UK that sits on the island of Ireland is Northern Ireland and nothing else and that Ulster, except where it forms part of the name of a company or organisation, is reserved for the nine-county province? User:Filiocht 08:48, Mar 24, 2005 (UTC) ::And in a final point to AlexM who commented before Jtdirl, while it is the case that people in the Republic use "Ulster" at times to refer to Northern Ireland, pointing this out ignores the fact that we firmly put Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal as being in Ulster. It's natural enough that Northern Ireland is referred to as Ulster off-hand even by those in the Republic, for the simple reason that NI is in Ulster, and includes most of the province. ::User:Zoney ♣ User talk:Zoney 12:01, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC) Before I make my response, let me first of all point out that this discussion was started because I objected to the terminology of "incorrect" being used to decribe Ulster meaning Northern Ireland (which has since been corrected). I do agree with filiocht that Northern Ireland should be referred to solely as "Northern Ireland" in any encyclopaedia article, however this discussion is not about Northern Ireland but about the definition of the word "Ulster". I have never said that people in Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal should be denied the right of to using the term Ulster, however, I believe most people in those counties feel culturally closer to the Republic of Ireland, than to the other 6 counties. Firstly, let me provide some dictionary definitions of "Ulster": Oxford Dictionary of English: ''Ulster A former province of Ireland, in the north of the island. The nine counties of Ulster are now divided between Northern Ireland (Antrim, Down, Armagh, Londonderry, Tyrone, and Fermanagh) and the Republic of Ireland (Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan)'' *''(in general use) Northern Ireland'' The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: ''Ulster. A historical region and ancient kingdom of northern Ireland. Largely annexed by the English Crown during the reign of James I, it is now divided between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is often called Ulster.'' Here is a definition of the word \"province\" from the Oxford dictionary: "noun 1 a principal administrative division of a country or empire: Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. -(the Province)''Brit'' Northern Ireland 2 (the provinces) the whole of a country outside the capital, especially when regarded as lacking in sophistication or culture." From these definitions it can be concluded: * Ulster was (past tense) a province of Ireland. * The 9 counties no longer represent a modern administrative division. Northern Ireland does represent a modern administrative division of the United Kingdom. 9-county Ulster is not a modern administrative division and currently spans two countries. Therefore Northern Ireland is actually more accurately defined as a "province" than the 9 counties!! Therefore I object to the continued use of the word "province" to solely refer to "the four provinces of Ireland". These Irish provinces are most accurately described as "ancient Irish provinces" or "historical Irish provinces" - these names are FACT. Northern Ireland is a province (i.e. administrative region) of the UK - fact. * Feareire says Ulster "as defined by a millennia of history" - exactly my point - this definition is in historical contexts. * The word "Ulster" to mean Northern Ireland is in common usage, even in the Republic as admitted by Zoney. Fact. This is not only used by so-calleed "unionists". I very much debate whether so-called "Nationalists" are completely opposed to a Northern Irish identity; only in extreme cases do nationalists refuse to admit the Northern Ireland entity exists. Therefore, I do not see the want to create a Northern Irish identity as such a one-sided thing. * "Ulster" was never a "geographic unit" as described by FearE. It has always been the name of an administrative and cultural region, not geographic. As I have previously mentioned, the meaning has changed over the years (Louth, Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo used to all be in Ulster, and I remember seeing a map showing Donegal in Connacht!!), with its current definition still very blurry due to the 3 southern counties. "Ireland" is, however, the name of a geographic land-mass. (Also unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland has taken the geographic name "Ireland" and placed it into its constitution as the official name of the Rebuplic of Ireland - what cheek!!! This is a far worse situation, than using Ulster=N.Ireland, but this is a completely different argument altogether so let's not get into it!) Also, as a side note. FearE - you try to say that the term "mainland" is a "geographic bunkum". Utter nonsense! Let's take a look at a definition of the word "mainland" in the Oxford English Dictionary: Mainland ''noun'' a large continuous extent of land that includes the greater part of a country or territory, as opposed to offshore islands and detached territories. Therefore, the island of Great Britain comprises of the largest continuous geographic area of land within the political entity of the United Kingdom. Therefore Great Britain may be correctly described as the "UK mainland". Great Britain has a larger geographical area than Northern Ireland (a detached territory) - this has nothing to do with the politcal status of the constituent parts of the UK as FE describes. User:Alexmc 17:25, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC) Not so. * The claim that Ulster as 9 counties is in the past is ludicrous. It is a currently existing term for that landmass. * The suggestion that '"Ulster" is not a geographic concept is mindboggling. It has been understood for millennia to refer the northern province of the island of Ireland, with boundaries at the south of Tyrconnell/Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan, bordering Connacht and Leinster. The physical location of the boundaries changed as the precise physical location of counties and their meaning changed, with some counties shrinking, and some by changing their boundaries came to be moved to other provinces. But it has always been a case that it has been a physical entity. If it has had physical boundaries it is by definition a geographic concept. Only one province of the ancient 5 provinces was not a physical, geographical entity but more of a concept. The fifth province is long abandoned. The four, geography-based ones, still do and are current, real, fully existent entities. * Regarding the claim concerning the "mainland" - look at the OED definition Alex gave. Mainland ''noun'' a large continuous extent of land that includes the greater part of a country or territory, as opposed to offshore islands and detached territories. **''Great Britain'' is a large continuous territory. It is the mainland for its islands like the Isle of Wright, the Hebrides, etc. Northern Ireland has no constitutional, political or geographic relationship with GB. It is part of another large island just as Britain is an island next to France, without being the junior island to the 'mainland' France. **Northern Ireland is linked to the United Kingdom, but as the name of the kingdom applies, United Kingdom ''of'' Great Britain ''and'' Northern Ireland, the entity is made of two territories, not one, which means that neither part is an off-territory subsidary of the other. The UK is both ''together'', not just one being the mainland, the other the island like the Isle of Wright to Britain or the Aran Islands to Ireland. If NI was part of the UK and the UK was simply, literally ''The United Kingdom'', then NI could be seen akin to the Isle of Wright, etc. But its inclusion in the name of the kingdom means that there is not one landmass in the main part of the kingdom but two, who ''together'' form the mainland of various islands. Without Northern Ireland, there is no "United Kingdom", not unless it is redefined merely as the "United Kingdom of Great Britain". * ''Ulster'' is in common usage as meaning Northern Ireland - yes, among exclusively with ''one'' community in the North. It is no more valid as a name for Northern Ireland than ''Occupied Six Counties'', a term used by thousands of others in the other community, is. The evidence is clearcut and unambiguous. ''Fear''EIREANN''">User:Jtdirl 23:01, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC) Jtdirl, I think you have a serious problem understanding the English language: * I have never claimed that the usage of Ulster to refer to nine counties is entirely in the past - this has been clearly pointed out above. What I do claim is that Ulster is no longer a 9-county province of Ireland, but was a former province (no modern political/administrative purpose - see OED definitions). Let me also retiterate that this discussion was started because of the term "incorrect" being used in context to Northern Ireland being referred to as Ulster, despite the fact that we are agreeing that it has common usage to mean exactly this, and is listed in many dictionaries. * As to the "mainland" issue, I think you need to read the OED definition again. It states "the greater part of a country or territory". The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country. Therefore GB may be corrrectly referred to as the UK mainland because GB constitues the largest continuous extent of land witin the country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Your dubious argument about territories is therefore completely irrelevant. :User:Alexmc 17:19, 27 Mar 2005 (UTC) =="Provinc